\t\t\t\tSome LIV Golf players are making contingency plans for 2027, including Thomas Pieters. But the Belgian remains hopeful\u2026<\/p>\n
When the bombshell first dropped in Mexico and LIV Golf players learned they were about to lose their financial backing, Thomas Pieters suggested he was \u201cready to retire\u201d. Pieters sensed a \u201cgrim atmosphere\u201d as rumors swirled over the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund\u2019s imminent withdrawal and checked out as his frenzied colleagues began refreshing social media for updates.<\/p>\n
At that stage, Pieters was certainly not agonizing over LIV\u2019s perilous future. And three months on as the league returned from a long hiatus at JCB Golf & Country Club, it seemed very little has changed. Pieters is still relaxed as he awaits a final verdict from LIV\u2019s chief executive Scott O\u2019Neil, who is currently attempting to raise $350 million in new investment for the embattled league to continue operations in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get small updates from Scott,\u201d the Belgian tells TG at LIV Golf UK, where he finished in a tie for 23rd despite playing with a fractured rib. \u201cHe says it\u2019s difficult times for him now. But they\u2019re very hopeful and very positive. I read it, I go, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s cool.\u2019 But then I go back to being a dad. Wherever I\u2019ll play next year, we\u2019ll find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
LIV suffered another setback last week when it emerged the Asian Tour, the league\u2019s second tier, was changing allegiances to the PGA and DP World Tours<\/a>. The league\u2019s $40 million season finale, the Team Championships in Michigan, is also increasingly likely to be cancelled<\/a>. But LIV\u2019s latest tournament drew a solid turnout in the English Midlands, where Lucas Herbert lit up the Staffordshire countryside<\/a> by closing with a final round 62 to win by six shots.<\/p>\n Pieters has seen enough evidence to remain hopeful LIV will exist in some capacity next season. <\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s going to be some sort of LIV next year, for sure,\u201d he says. \u201cThe market\u2019s too big outside of America. The PGA Tour said we\u2019re going to stay in America, and that\u2019s their market, and I don\u2019t think you can even compete with them. They\u2019re so good, so big, so anything outside of America, I think there\u2019s a big market for it.\u201d <\/p>\n Ten years ago, Pieters won four points on his Ryder Cup debut, playing so well at Hazeltine that Rory McIlroy claimed that \u201cI\u2019ve got a partner beside me for the next 20 years\u201d. He has not represented Europe since, but Pieters has accumulated six DP World Tour wins and two top-10 finishes in majors. Since joining LIV Golf in 2023, he has also racked up more than $15 million in prize money. Retirement at the age of 34, as Pieters mooted in Mexico, would have felt like a remarkably premature end for a player of such devastating talent.<\/p>\n \u201cI still have a bit left in me,\u201d he admits now. \u201cMy kids haven\u2019t been to a tournament in a year and a half, but I\u2019d like to see them be old enough to remember some of this. That would be nice. If I retire now, they have no idea what dad did.\u201d<\/p>\n Pieters has decided that regardless of the outcome of LIV\u2019s future, he will play on. He is motivated by the chance to hunt for a medal for Belgium at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, which will be played at iconic Riviera Country Club. His immediate future, however, is complicated by the fact he does not have any remaining status on the DP World Tour. Pieters would need to enter the circuit\u2019s Q School this winter for a place to play in Europe if LIV does not survive. <\/p>\n But, Pieters says: \u201cI don\u2019t have an ego. I\u2019ll do whatever I have to do to play.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI\u2019m going to try and get invites, but I don\u2019t want to get a freebie or something. I want to earn my way back because I don\u2019t want anybody on the DP World Tour to say, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s getting his status back.\u2019 I want to do it the proper way if I go back.\u00a0There\u2019s still golf in me. I still think I can compete with the best, but I\u2019ve got to prove a lot of things before I can do that, before I get back into majors.<\/p>\n \u201cIf LIV doesn\u2019t exist, I have to prove my way back on the tour. I have to prove that I can win and then go on to majors. It\u2019s kind of the consequences, right? We all came here for a reason, and if it doesn\u2019t exist anymore, then it\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n Pieters says he is also willing to play on the HotelPlanner Tour, Europe\u2019s second tier, if and when the invites come.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what? That pressure,\u00a0maybe it\u2019s going to suit me well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n